Josh Gibson was born on this day in 1911. Josh Gibson may have been the greatest catcher who ever played baseball. Sadly, he never got to play in Major League Baseball due to the ban on blacks up until 1947. Gibson was called by some “the black Babe Ruth” others who had seen them both play called Ruth “the white Josh Gibson.” By all accounts Josh Gibson was one of the all time greats. He played mainly with the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays in the Negro Leagues from 1930-1946. He was 6 foot 1 and 210 pounds in his prime. He was a power hitter. It is thought that Gibson hit over 800 home runs in his career.

One old Josh Gibson story was that he once hit a ball in Pittsburgh that went so far no one saw it land. The next day in Philadelphia a ball came falling out of the sky. A player caught the ball, the umpire yelled “Gibson, you are out yesterday in Pittsburgh”

Being a Pittsburgh sports fan, there have been a lot of great players in many sports who have played for Pittsburgh teams. I have always leaned towards Honus Wagner as being the greatest baseball player who ever played for the Pirates, Josh Gibson may have been the greatest Pittsburgh baseball player/athlete.

Sadly Josh Gibson died of a stroke at the age of 35 just months before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. In 1972 Josh Gibson was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2000 The Sporting News listed Gibson as the 18th greatest player in baseball history.